— Rand to Moiraine
- For other uses of the word "heart," see Heart.
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| <<< Into the Heart >>> |
| Setting: Stone of Tear |
Summary[]
- Point of view: Moiraine Damodred
All available Tairen nobility, high and low alike, have been summoned to the Heart of the Stone by Rand and await his arrival. Previously only the High Lords came to the Heart and only for the four yearly ceremonies, as Tairens did not like to be reminded of Callandor. Moiraine arrives, irritated that Lan is not with her for some reason, although she can feel through the bond that he is still in the city.[1] The Tairens part way in front of her easily due to their aversion to Aes Sedai. Egwene follows Moiraine in and Moiraine asks her about Rand. Egwene does not know anything about what Rand intends to announce; Moiraine is privately concerned that Rand has heard the rumors about the Two Rivers and hopes he will not be distracted by them. She tries to encourage Egwene to position herself closer to Rand which annoys Egwene, but it does not matter anyway as Egwene says that Rand will not confide in anyone. Moiraine still thinks that Egwene must be jealous about Rand and Elayne.
Moiraine expects Elayne and Nynaeve to be aboard Wavedancer by now and hopes they will be able to verify her suspicions about the Windfinders.[2] Should they fail to obtain passage from the Sea Folk, they have enough gold to buy a ship and crew; she knows from her informants that Thom Merrilin has taken up her offer and will see them to Tanchico in either case. She does not believe that the Black Ajah sisters went there because the plot to free Mazrim Taim is much more likely, so they should be reasonably safe. She wishes Egwene had gone with them instead of her insistence on going to the Aiel Waste to learn about Tel'aran'rhiod. She would have preferred that all three Accepted were back in the Tower training their strength; she curses Siuan for sending the three on this mission to hunt the Black Ajah. Moiraine muses on the various plots of the High Lords and Ladies and expects that she will have to protect Rand from them, especially now that Thom is gone. Mat is present, but Perrin is missing and although Moiraine knows that Faile has been trying to get Perrin to leave, she does not know that he is actually off to the Two Rivers.
Rand enters bearing Callandor, moving imperiously through the gathered crowd who are disturbed by Callandor and the trailing veiled Aiel. As he runs his eyes across the crowd and sees Egwene, he is surprised that she has not gone with Elayne and Nynaeve. With no warning, he suddenly starts making declarations. The High Lord Sunamon is in charge of signing a fair treaty with Mayene as previously determined by Rand or else he will be hanged. Mayene will lend ships to Tear to carry grain to be sold in the west rather than to the north in Cairhien.[3]
Rand mentions that the soldiers will march; the Tairens assume an attack on Illian is imminent before Rand continues and clarifies that the army is to march north to Cairhien, led by various High Lords that Rand privately knows are plotting against him, thanks to Thom's information. Meilan, one of the named High Lords, starts to list objections before Rand cuts him off. Rand continues, saying that in addition to the army restoring peace and order to Cairhien, wagons will also carry some of the excess grain to feed the starving people. Rand pokes Callandor at the ground and yells at Meilan again which stops all opposition. Although Cairhien is Moiraine's homeland, she does not understand this strategy and its purpose and wonders if it is Lanfear's idea. Rand then sends High Lady Alteima to Cairhien as well under the pretext of needing a woman to oversee the distribution of grain; he neatly threatens her at the same time by moving her sick husband to the care of High Lady Estanda, her rival.[4] Alteima faints at the implication but only a few in the room seem to understand the subtext.
Rand then surprises everybody by announcing that he will not be accompanying the army to Cairhien and will instead be going elsewhere. Then Rand embeds Callandor in the stone floor, driving it halfway in, and sets traps around it as a sign that he will return. This shakes the Stone and is felt even by those in the city and the harbor.[5] He taunts the Tairens and dares them to try to take the sword and become the new ruler of Tear. Rand and the Aiel then leave before the Tairens can recover from their shock.
Moiraine and Egwene hurry to catch up to Rand. Rand expresses his surprise that Egwene did not leave for Tanchico and she explains that she will be going with Aviendha to Rhuidean to learn from the Wise Ones. He informs Moiraine that he set traps on Callandor so that no one will be take it out except him. Its presence in the Stone reminds the Tairens of him and will allow him to return in the future without an army at his back; doing so is also a passage in the Prophecies of the Dragon and he is simply fulfilling it.[6] Moiraine is concerned that the Forsaken will take the sword but Rand is confident in his wards. He then says that he is going to Rhuidean as well, which elicits a reaction from the Aiel. Moiraine questions why Rand needs to go to Rhuidean which is only for Aiel clan chiefs and Wise Ones and wonders if it is related to his answers from the realm beyond the twisted redstone doorframe;[7] Rand says only that Moiraine must trust him as he had to trust her.
Characters[]
- Moiraine
- Egwene
- Leitha
- Alteima
- Estanda
- Mat
- Rand
- Rhuarc
- Sunamon Haellin
- Meilan
- Gueyam
- Aracome
- Hearne
- Maraconn
- Simaan
- Torean Andiama
- Estean Andiama
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Notes
- ↑ Lan seeks Juilin Sandar to escort Elayne and Nynaeve to Tanchico as explained in The Shadow Rising, Chapter 20.
- ↑ Moiraine suspects that the Windfinders are channelers, as shown in The Shadow Rising, Chapter 20.
- ↑ Cairhien currently cannot pay for Tear's grain due to their civil war so the grain has simply been lying unsold.
- ↑ Alteima poisoned her husband Tedosian because he had killed her lover Carleon; should Tedosian recover from the poisoning in Estanda's care, Alteima would have to face his wrath. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 17)
- ↑ The Shadow Rising, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20
- ↑ Rand remarked in The Shadow Rising, Chapter 10 that Lanfear helped him understand one piece of the puzzle; her constant talking about Callandor likely gave him an epiphany about this passage in the Prophecies.
- ↑ The Shadow Rising, Chapter 15
- At least one edition has the wheel icon for this chapter.
